Department for Transport

Parking: Pedestrian Areas

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what powers local authorities have to prevent vehicles parking on pavements.

Andrew Jones: There is a general ban on pavement parking in London (except where expressly permitted). Outside London, Section 19 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 prohibits heavy goods vehicles from parking on the pavement. Other vehicles may park on the pavement unless the council choose to prohibit it by means of a Traffic Regulation Order under powers in the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. Yellow lines also apply to the pavement. Other options include the use of physical measures, such as high kerbs or bollards.

Blue Badge Scheme

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many blue badge permits were approved by local authorities in each of the last five years.

Andrew Jones: The estimated number of Blue Badges issued each year is shown in the table below. Blue Badges issued, England, 2011/12-2015/16 Year1 2011/1222012/1332013/1432014/1532015/163Valid Blue Badges issued905,608897,465873,890879,997885,216 Count of Blue Badges issued in the year ending 31st MarchSource: DfT Blue Badge SurveySource: Blue Badge Improvement Service (BBIS) data These results are published in table DIS0111, available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/572875/dis0111.ods

Blue Badge Scheme

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people were registered for the blue badge scheme, by health condition, in each of the last three years.

Andrew Jones: The Department does not hold data on the number of people who have registered for the Blue Badge scheme by health condition.

High Speed Two: Public Appointments

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the HS2 Limited board are (a) women, (b) from black or minority ethnic backgrounds, (c) disabled and (d) from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Andrew Jones: The HS2 Ltd Board has 12 members (including the Chair), 3 are women and 9 are men. No information is held as to the ethnic backgrounds of the Board members, disabilities or their socio-economic backgrounds.

High Speed Two

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications the board of HS2 Limited received during its last intake.

Andrew Jones: During the most recent campaign to recruit a Non-Executive Director in 2016 to HS2 Ltd Board, 50 applicants were considered.

Highway Code

Mrs Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will review the Highway Code to examine whether to introduce a universal duty to give way when turning and conduct further research into applying such a rule at traffic light junctions.

Andrew Jones: We are consulting with relevant colleagues and stakeholders, particularly those involved with pedestrian safety and disability groups, about the impacts of such a change. We would need to be convinced that safety and accessibility would be maintained or enhanced if a universal duty to give way when turning at junctions were introduced.

Taxis

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the public consultation on local authority Best Practice Guidance for Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles will be published.

Andrew Jones: The Department for Transport is currently reviewing the Best Practice Guidance on taxi and private hire vehicle licensing. Following Royal Assent to the Policing and Crime Act earlier this year the Department for Transport will for the first time issue Statutory Guidance, this will include specific advice on practical measures to reduce the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse of children and vulnerable adults when using these services. Both parts of the guidance will be consulted on shortly.

Bus Services: Concessions

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Work and Pensions on the effect of time restrictions on the disabled person's bus pass on the ability of disabled people to access employment.

Andrew Jones: The Government recognises the importance of accessible transport for disabled people and my Department continues to engage on a regular basis with the Department for Work and Pensions and other Government Departments as well as local authorities and the transport sector on this issue. The statutory minimum bus travel concession scheme applies to off-peak travel when there is likely to be unused operational capacity on buses. Whilst I appreciate that concessionary pass holders might wish to use buses before 9.30am, the statutory times were set out in the Transport Act in 2000 and in the current economic climate there are no plans to extend the statutory scheme to include peak time travel. It remains very much open to each local authority to decide whether to offer its residents local concessions over and above the statutory minimum, including peak hour concessions.

Cycling

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answers of 8 and 28 March 2017 to Questions 65946 and 69578, if his Department will ensure that the planned revision of Local Transport Note LTN 2/08 on cycling infrastructure design helps to create the conditions in which young people, older people, women and people with disabilities are as likely to cycle as others, in accordance with its public sector equality duty.

Andrew Jones: The Department’s guidance in LTN 2/08 already highlights the need to ensure cycling facilities are inclusive, and the revision will continue to emphasise this. Decisions on how best to provide for cyclists on local roads are matters for the local authority – not only do they have a duty to balance the needs of all road users when considering how to design and manage their road networks, but they also have a detailed understanding of their roads. It is for them to ensure that any measures they place are fit for purpose, and to ensure that they meet the public sector equality duty.

Road Traffic Control

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to review the Traffic Regulation Order making process.

Andrew Jones: I am considering if changes are needed to the process for obtaining Traffic Regulation Orders. Before any decisions are made to simplify or streamline the process, I have asked officials to ask stakeholders for their views. This evidence gathering survey will take place in the summer.

Road Traffic Control: Calderdale

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received from Calderdale Council on (a) addressing traffic congestion and (b) tackling air pollution issues at Hipperholme traffic lights.

Andrew Jones: The Department for Transport has not received any recent representations from Calderdale Council on a) addressing traffic congestion and (b) tackling air pollution issues at Hipperholme traffic lights.

Railways: Digital Technology

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when Network Rail's business plan for the digital railway is planned to be published.

Paul Maynard: Network Rail are working with industry to establish a rollout plan for digital railways which maximises benefits for rail users at the best possible value for money. A range of schemes are being considered and we expect to see robust plans detailing the exact locations and scopes of these schemes towards the end of this year.

Roads: Freight

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to Mode Shift Revenue Support grants on the volume of rail and road freight in the UK; and what steps he is taking to ensure that roads across the UK are able to handle increased volumes of HGV transportation as a result of those changes.

Mr John Hayes: The final number of lorry journeys that the Department for Transport’s Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) funding will have helped to remove from Britain’s roads in 2016/17 is not yet known. The maximum number is 983,162, but current estimates are that it will be about 17,000 fewer. Funding allocated at the Department’s first bid round for 2017/18 and 2018/19 will help to remove up to 796,854 and 776,497 lorry journeys respectively. There are further bid rounds to come, which may increase the figures or alter what is covered by this grant and the parallel Waterborne Freight Grant scheme. Since applications for grant are prioritised on the basis of value for money, the services that are allocated funding, and therefore the potential impact on the road network, varies from one bid round to another.

Roads: North East

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 4.22 of the Spring Budget 2017, how much of the £220 million to address pinch points on the strategic road network will be allocated to schemes in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside local authority area and (c) the North East.

Mr John Hayes: In November 2016, the Chancellor announced the Government’s commitment to allocate an extra £220 million to relieve congestion on the Strategic Road Network. The schemes in this Congestion Relief Programme will be delivered quickly to relieve congestion, improve safety and help facilitate local development. There are no schemes within the Congestion Relief Programme for the Jarrow constituency or the South Tyneside local authority area, however there are four proposed improvement schemes in the North East estimated to cost a total of £31.3 million. There is also £18.2 million allocated to Yorkshire & North East for some smaller schemes though these are not developed to a stage where they can be announced.

Skoda

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 April 2017 to Question 69282, on Volkswagen, how many Skoda cars fixes had been applied to by the time of the (a) January, (b) February and (c) March 2017 meetings.

Mr John Hayes: Volkswagen provided the Department with the following figures for the number of ‘fixes’ that have been applied to the affected Skoda vehicles in the UK ahead of the January, February and March meetings. I have also included the latest April figures for your information.  Number of vehicles reported ‘fixed’ on:17th January21st February20th March10th AprilSkoda22,28425,67828,09429,253

Northern Rail Franchise

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has been made of the safety of driver-controlled operation on railways in northern England.

Paul Maynard: The department is satisfied that driver controlled operation (DCO) is safe. DCO has been used safely in Britain, including on some of the busiest parts of the network, for over 30 years. In addition, the independent safety regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), recently confirmed that with suitable equipment, procedures and competent staff in place, this form of train dispatch can fully meet legal requirements for safe operation.‎ Operators that adopt DCO for a particular service must also carry out their own full safety assessments to ensure that they meet all necessary safety requirements.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Wind Power

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of the forecasts for new renewable energy capacity in his Department's updated Energy and Emissions Projections 2016 report, published in March 2017, is comprised of (a) onshore and (b) offshore wind.

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will provide the amount of projected renewable energy capacity by technology set out in his Department's updated Energy and Emissions Projections 2016 report, published in March 2017,

Jesse Norman: The Government does not release any breakdown of renewables projections. We have moved to a competitive allocation process for financial support to for renewable electricity through Contracts for Difference (CFDs). Disclosure may have a distortive effect on bidding behaviours and potentially affect value for money to consumers.

Renewable Energy: Trade Competitiveness

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the international competitiveness of the UK's renewable energy and low carbon technologies.

Jesse Norman: London is currently the world’s leading financial centre in carbon trading, hosting around 90% of the world’s carbon market. A third of new clean energy projects worldwide between 2007 and 2012 had legal and financial advice from the UK. The UK is already the second largest exporter of electric vehicles to Europe. The UK is currently leading the world in our offshore wind industry: with the largest installed capacity and the largest pipeline up to 2020. We expect the opportunities to export the technologies and expertise developed in the UK to grow.

Renewable Energy: Exports

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage a global market for the UK's renewable energy and low carbon technologies.

Jesse Norman: We continue to support renewable energy and low carbon technologies globally; we are already a world leader in off-shore wind. Working alongside the Department for International Trade, we are negotiating new free trade agreements with countries outside the EU and working to support businesses through discussions on market access issues. We will also be ambitious in the upcoming EU negotiations to secure the best possible access for businesses to trade with and operate in the European market.

Energy: Housing

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what financial support his Department plans to offer to help non-fuel poor households make their homes warmer and more energy efficient from 2018.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Energy Company Obligation, worth £640m per year, offers financial support for energy efficiency with around 30% of support being open to all households. Decisions for the successor to the current Energy Company Obligation from October 2018 will be subject to public consultation later this year.

Energy Companies Obligation

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of his Department's decision to focus the Energy Company Obligation on fuel poor households from 2018 on the UK's ability to meet its commitments to reduce carbon emissions.

Mr Nick Hurd: Design decisions for the successor to the current Energy Company Obligation from October 2018 will determine what progress the scheme makes towards the 2030 fuel poverty target and the reduction of carbon emissions. The design will be subject to public consultation with an associated Impact Assessment.

Renewable Energy

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress he has made on proposals to run subsidy-free auction rounds for solar photovoltaic and onshore wind.

Jesse Norman: The Department requested stakeholders’ views on how we can deploy electricity generation through competitive markets without the requirement for ongoing subsidy as part of our Industrial Strategy Consultation. The Consultation closed on 17 April 2017 and we are considering the responses received.

Energy: Meters

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the roll out of SMETS2s will begin.

Jesse Norman: The national data and communications infrastructure operated by the Data and Communications Company (DCC) is now live, enabling energy suppliers to install and operate SMETS2 meters on its systems. Suppliers are currently carrying out end to end testing using their own internal systems, the DCC, and their selected SMETS2 meters and will commence their rollout of SMETS2 meters as soon has their individual testing is complete.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Data Protection

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many (a) official and (b) official sensitive documents have been recorded as lost by his Department since 8 May 2015.

Alok Sharma: Materials designated Official or Official-Sensitive do have a level of protection, however loss of its control does not warrant a breach as per existing Cabinet Office guidelines. Figures for all loss at this classification is not recorded centrally.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Security

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many security passes giving access to his Department's premises are currently valid.

Alok Sharma: For operational reasons, the FCO does not provide data on the number of valid security passes. However, valid passes are issued to many individuals, including those who are employed directly inside FCO buildings in the UK and for those individuals who do not work directly inside the FCO but who need regular access. This latter group includes members of the Emergency Services and personnel employed within the Royal Household.

Hong Kong: Foreign Relations

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Chief Executive of Hong Kong since her recent election.

Alok Sharma: Until 1 July 2017, the incumbent Mr CY Leung remains Chief Executive. The British Government looks forward to working with the Chief Executive-elect Carrie Lam when she takes office in July. I wrote to Chief Executive-elect Carrie Lam on 28 March to congratulate her on her victory. I have had no discussions with Carrie Lam since her election on 26 March.Our Consul General in Hong Kong, Mr Andrew Heyn OBE met Chief Executive-elect Carrie Lam on 19 April and discussed deepening UK-Hong Kong cooperation when she takes office in July.

Burma: Rape

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has made representations to the Government of Burma on allowing the UK team of experts on sexual violence to visit Myanmar to assist the investigation into alleged rapes of ethnic Rohingya women by police and soldiers in Rakhine State.

Alok Sharma: We have not made representations to the Government of Burma specifically on allowing the UK team of experts on sexual violence to visit Myanmar. Our recent focus has been on co-sponsoring the Resolution at the Human Rights Council in March which established a Fact Finding Mission to assess human rights abuses, including those of sexual violence in Rakhine. We urge the Burmese authorities to cooperate with the Mission as agreed by the Human Rights Council. We stand ready to support the Mission in any way we can. We will also continue to raise issues of conflict-related sexual violence with the Burmese authorities bilaterally.The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my noble Friend, the Rt Hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns, raised these issues with Burmese Ministers when she visited Burma in November 2016 in her capacity as the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. She also called on the Burmese authorities to investigate allegations of sexual violence in a thorough and transparent manner.

Attorney General

Attorney General: Security

Jon Trickett: To ask the Attorney General, how many people holding security passes for other Government Departments are granted access to the Law Officers' Departments' premises with that pass, by Department.

Jeremy Wright: Civil servants have to ability to work flexibly across government sites where there is a business need to do so. The issuing of all passes is controlled by the local security teams who follow strict procedures and protocols. Information on the number of people holding security passes for other government departments who are granted access to the different AGO premises is not centrally recorded.At present the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) do not accept other Government Department passes to access the CPS Headquarters office.

Attorney General: Staff

Jon Trickett: To ask the Attorney General, how many people are currently employed by the Law Officers' Departments.

Jeremy Wright: This information is available in the ONS Public Sector Employment Statistics last published on 15 March 2017:www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/publicsectoremploymentreferencetable

Department for International Development

Department for International Development: Data Protection

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many (a) official and (b) official sensitive documents have been recorded as lost by her Department since 8 May 2015.

Rory Stewart: Since 8 May 2015 there were two occasions when hard copy documents were lost. The documents were subsequently recovered. 73 passes were reported as lost, these are classified as official documents.

Developing Countries: Overseas Trade

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2017 to Question 67083, on trade agreements, if she will publish the review referred to in the Answer of 14 March 2017 to Question 66937, on overseas trade.

Rory Stewart: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I provided on 14th March 2017 to Question number 66937.

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that UK aid is not being passed on by the Palestinian Authority to the families of people who have been involved in terrorist activity.

Rory Stewart: UK financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) is only used to fund the salaries of PA health and education public servants in the West Bank who are on a vetted EU list. The list of eligible beneficiaries is subject to a vetting process that includes screening against international and ad hoc sanctions lists, covering a large number of different risk categories including terrorism financing.

Department for Education

Children: Social Services

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people aged 18 years and under receive (a) direct payments and (b) a personal budget from her Department.

Edward Timpson: The Government does not issue personal budgets directly. Local authorities are responsible for doing so for children and young people who have special educational needs and disabilities with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. The latest data is that there were 2,025 personal budgets in place for EHC plans issued and reviewed during 2015. This relates to all children and young people aged 0-25; we do not hold the information for under-18s only. Direct payments are an option within personal budgets for these children and young people. We do not hold information on the number of direct payments, but in the 2016-17 financial year, £4,726,000 was spent from local authority High Needs Budgets on these direct payments. Personal health budgets are also available to people who need to receive healthcare funded by the National Health Service, where the benefits of having the budget for healthcare outweigh any additional costs associated with having one. For children and young people under 18, local authorities are also under a duty to offer direct payments for services which the local authority may provide to children with disabilities, or their families, under the section 17 of the Children Act 1989.

Sex and Relationship Education

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to include an LGBT aspect in statutory sex and relationships education; and whether her Department has consulted LGBT young people on the new PSHE action plan.

Edward Timpson: The government announced on 1 March 2017 proposals for mandatory Relationships Education in primary schools, Relationships and Sex Education in secondary schools (RSE), and potentially also Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE), or elements thereof, in all schools but this will be subject to wider consultation. We want all pupils to be taught how to recognise and build healthy relationships of all kinds, including family relationships, friendships and, at the appropriate age, sexual relationships. We expect all schools to ensure that young people, whatever their developing sexuality or identity, feel that Relationships Education and RSE are relevant to them and sensitive to their needs. This is stated in the current Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) guidance. As part of our wider engagement, we envisage working with organisations who represent LGBT communities and who are already supporting schools in this area. There will be an opportunity to ensure that the revised guidance will draw on the good practice that already exists on how to provide good quality, inclusive subject content that is also consistent with the ethos of the school. We plan to undertake a comprehensive programme of engagement with stakeholders about future provision in these areas. A key element of the engagement process will be gathering views and evidence to enable us to get the balance of subject content right, including through statutory guidance, enabling schools to design appropriate lessons. This will include consultation with young people and we will share further details on our wider engagement shortly.The government’s plan is for schools to teach mandatory Relationships Education, RSE, and subject to further consideration and consultation, PSHE, we expect from September 2019.

Children in Care: Finance

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) data and (b) methodology her Department uses to calculate the level of funding for staying put arrangements.

Edward Timpson: The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced a new duty on local authorities to support young people to continue to live with their former foster carers once they turn 18 (the ‘Staying Put’ duty). The duty came into force in May 2014. The funding amounts allocated to local authorities since the introduction of the duty are listed below: Financial yearStaying Put Grant, total payment2014-15£7.4m2015-16£14.8m2016-17£22.2m  These totals were calculated using information from an independent evaluation of a pilot of the staying put initiative and evidence from the annual children looked after return on the numbers of children ceasing to be looked after from foster care placements each year. The annual children looked after return is also used to allocate annual grant allocations across local authorities each year. The allocation is based on the number of looked after children who were in foster care placements in each local authority at the time of their 18th birthday. In ‘Keep on caring: supporting young people from care to independence,’ published in July 2016, the Department for Education announced that funding to local authorities to implement Staying Put will continue over the life of this Parliament, using the £22.2m provided in 2016/17 as the baseline.

Children: Gynaecology

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has issued to teachers and support staff who work with children with specific learning difficulties to support those children with their menstrual health.

Edward Timpson: The Department does not issue guidance to schools on menstrual health specifically for pupils with learning difficulties. However, menstruation does feature in guidance on Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), and is covered in the science curriculum at key stage three. All maintained schools must follow the national curriculum and other schools can use it as a benchmark. We encourage schools to consider carefully how to support all their pupils to be safe, healthy and ready to learn each day.

Schools: Finance

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that additional funding to support the education of children who are entitled to free school meals can be claimed by schools in the event that those children do not claim those free school meals.

Edward Timpson: We are determined to give every child, regardless of their background, the very best start in life. Both free school meals (FSM) and pupil premium (which links to FSM eligibility) are key to this and we want all parents whose children are entitled FSM, to apply for them. The current eligibility criteria for FSM requires the parent (or pupil) to be both in receipt of a specified benefit and to make a request for the meal to be provided free of charge. To support this the Department for Education provides an electronic Eligibility Checking System (ECS), which allows local authorities to check data held by DWP, the Home Office and HMRC in order to establish FSM eligibility. The Department has also provided a model registration form and accompanying guidance, which schools can use as part of their enrolment process. We want to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility for FSM, and the Department is looking at what can be done in the longer term to make the FSM registration processes even more efficient.

Special Educational Needs

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications for education, health and care plans were (a) made, (b) accepted and (c) refused in 2016.

Edward Timpson: The data requested for the 2016 calendar year will be published in the ‘Statements of SEN and EHC plans: England: 2017’ statistical first release on 25th May 2017.Comparable data for the 2015 calendar year can be found in Table 2 of the ‘Statements of SEN and EHC plans: England: 2016’ statistical first release: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2016

Schools: Vocational Guidance

Caroline Ansell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers with responsibility for providing careers advice have had training in autism.

Robert Halfon: The Department for Education (DfE) does not hold information on the number of teachers with responsibility for careers advice who have been trained in autism.Since 2011 the DfE has funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk to deliver autism training at three levels to staff in early years, school and post-16 settings. Level 1 training is a basic 90-minute awareness session and Levels 2 and 3 are more in depth and aimed at staff who are working with autistic pupils on a daily basis. The AET has also developed a competency framework and standards for supporting pupils with autism.To date, the AET has trained more than 130,000 people – not just teachers and teaching assistants, but also support staff such as receptionists, dining hall staff and caretakers.

Pre-school Education

Michael Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Skills Funding Agency about allowing functional skills in English and mathematics to be permitted on the Early Years Educator Programme from April 2017.

Robert Halfon: The current GCSE English and Maths requirements for early years educator (EYE) staff at level 3 have been broadened to include level 2 functional skills alongside other suitable qualifications. This is in response to the government consultation on the literacy and numeracy requirements for EYE staff and as part of the early years workforce strategy. The Skills Funding Agency will amend the apprenticeship funding rules, the Hub and the ILR validation rules so that anyone who started an early years apprenticeship on or after 1 September 2014 can now meet English and Maths requirements through the achievement of level 2 functional skills or other suitable qualifications.

Apprentices

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether hon. Members are able to access (a) funding for apprenticeships and (b) apprentices on account of the House's contribution to the apprenticeship levy; and if she will make a statement.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the combined salary bill of hon. members and Members of the House of Lords being in excess of the threshold for payment of the apprenticeship levy, if she will take steps to facilitate parliamentarians in contributing to and accessing funding for apprenticeships both in Parliament and in their parliamentary constituencies; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Halfon: Criterion defining which organisations will pay the levy is published on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-levy-how-it-will-work Organisations will first declare that they will pay the levy in May 2017. As stated in the reply of 30 March to my Hon. Friend’s PQ 69076, both levy and non-levy paying employers can access funding towards the cost of an apprentice’s training and assessment. Levy paying employers will have funds available to them through the apprenticeship service and receive a 10% Government top up every month. Non-levy paying employers will contribute 10% towards the cost of training with the Government paying 90%. As individual employers, Hon. Members and members of the House of Lords will be able to check their eligibility for funding the training of apprentices they hire. The Apprenticeship Funding Rules are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sfa-funding-rules-2016-to-2017

Apprentices: Taxation

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much investment is predicted to be stimulated from the apprenticeship levy in each of the next five years.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ensure that investment from the apprenticeship levy benefits less affluent areas the most.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what provisions have been put in place to ensure that the apprenticeship levy is equally beneficial to all areas of the UK.

Robert Halfon: The Apprenticeship Levy came into effect on 6 April 2017 and will enable us to fund the step change needed to achieve 3 million quality apprenticeship starts in England by 2020. Delivering better quality apprenticeships will ensure that more people from all backgrounds are enabled to gain the skills and training they need to build successful careers.The apprenticeships programme is demand led, and employers will recruit apprentices that are appropriate for their business needs. The new funding model will support training for individuals from disadvantaged areas, by providing a cash payment to providers for training apprentices who live in the top 27% of deprived areas. This will be in place for a year, and we will continue to review our approach to funding apprenticeships for the most disadvantaged.We are investing in skills across the whole of England: by 2019-20 our annual spending on apprenticeships in England will reach £2.45bn – double in cash terms what is was in 2010-11. Apprenticeships budget from 2016-2020 can be found on page 8 at: Information on apprenticeship levy. Apprenticeships are a devolved policy. The Devolved Administrations will each receive their fair share of the apprenticeship levy increasing to £460 million by 2019-20. It will be for them to decide how funds raised from the levy should be used in their administrations.

Apprentices: Autism

Michael Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many autistic people completed apprenticeships in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

Michael Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to monitor the effect of the work of the Apprenticeships Taskforce on autism employment.

Michael Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will set a target for (a) disabled and (b) autistic people within the overall Government target of the number of apprenticeships.

Robert Halfon: We are delivering all of the recommendations made by the Maynard taskforce and expect to have fully implemented them by April 2018. The recommendations focused on a range of disabilities, including autism. We expect the actions taken to improve access to and completion of apprenticeships for a broad range of people with learning difficulties and disabilities, including those with autism. Alongside our work to implement the recommendations of the taskforce, in March 2017 we announced a new disability success measure to increase the proportion of apprenticeships starts by people with learning difficulties and disabilities by 20% by 2020 in our Apprenticeship Reform Programme: Benefits Realisation document. Whilst we have not limited success measures for specific groups with learning difficulties and disabilities, for example, individuals with autism, we expect our work on implementing the recommendations and working towards achieving our success measures to have an impact on a broad range of people with different learning difficulties and disabilities. Data is not collected in such a way as to be able to identify apprentices with autism. Achievements for those apprentices that have declared a learning difficulty or disability for the 2013/14 and 2014/15 academic years can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/504335/apprenticeships-achievements-by-geography-learner-demographics-and-sector-subject-area.xls. Data for the 2015/16 academic year will be published in due course.

Sex and Relationship Education

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government's plans to introduce statutory sex and relationships education will include a requirement to teach children about consent.

Edward Timpson: The key aim of the new Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) subjects is to support young people to stay safe and prepare them for life in modern Britain. The statutory guidance must include issues relating to safety in forming and maintaining relationships and the characteristics of healthy relationships. We have committed to conducting a wide-ranging engagement process to determine the content of regulations and statutory guidance on Relationships Education and RSE. As a result, and as we set out in our policy statement, we expect the subjects will cover the issue of consent in relationships. The regulations will be made via the affirmative resolution procedure, allowing debate and a vote in Parliament, and we will consult on the details of the guidance.

Children in Care: Missing Persons

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children went missing from local authority care in (a) 2014, (b) 2015 and (c) 2016.

Edward Timpson: The available information is published in table G1 of the Statistical First Release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2015 to 2016’, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2015-to-2016

Children: Care Homes

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children's homes there are in England and Wales.

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total number of places in children's homes is in England and Wales.

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many approved foster carers there were in England in April of each year since 2010 to date.

Edward Timpson: This is a matter for Ofsted. I have asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman, to write to the Honourable Member for Wigan with the information requested.

Pupils: Dental Health

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of school days lost as a result of children's dental problems in each of the last five school years.

Edward Timpson: The Department does not hold data on absence due to children's dental problems. Figures for absence by reason, including authorised absence for illness and medical/dental appointments, are published in “Pupil absence in schools in England: 2015 to 2016”, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-2015-to-2016

Skills Funding Agency: Public Appointments

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications the board of the Skills Funding Agency received during its last intake.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who makes appointments to the Board of the Skills Funding Agency; which other organisations or individuals provide advice on those appointments; and at what stage of the process such advice is provided.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the Skills Funding Agency Board are (a) women, (b) from black or minority ethnic backgrounds, (c) disabled or (d) from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Robert Halfon: The Skills Funding Agency and Education Funding Agency merged on 1 April 2017 to form the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). As a result of this change, the Skills Funding Agency Advisory Board ceased to exist on 1 April 2017. A new board will be set up to oversee the work of the new agency, and members will be appointed in due course. Arrangements for this will be published by the Department for Education in the new agency’s Framework Document as soon as possible. This document will be available on GOV.UK.

Ministry of Justice

Sentencing

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average sentence imposed for conviction of (a) rape, (b) sexual offences excluding rape, (c) child abuse and (d) domestic abuse was in the last 12 months.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Child abuse and domestic abuse may be charged under a number of different offences including assaults, child cruelty and coercive and controlling behaviour offences. The average custodial sentence length for these offences as well as rape and other sexual offences is available online at: https://www.gov.uk in the Criminal Justice Statistics section.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Parliament: Broadcasting

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether a television licence is required solely to view live streaming video of Parliamentary proceedings or recordings of such proceedings on www.parliamentlive.tv.

Matt Hancock: The legal requirements around the television licence are set out in the Communications Act 2003 and the Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004/692. That Act provides that a television licence is needed to "operate equipment capable of receiving a television programme service". This does not cover on demand services. However, whether live services that www.parliamentlive.tv provide qualify as a television programme service is a question of interpreting the Act and ultimately one for the courts to make.

Nuisance Calls

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps she has taken to reduce nuisance telephone calls to elderly or vulnerable residents.

Matt Hancock: We are determined to tackle the problem of nuisance calls, and have allocated £500,000 to the National Trading Standards Scams Team to provide call blocking devices to vulnerable people in all parts of the UK – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The devices will be rolled out nationwide over the next two years and an evaluation report will be submitted to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on their effectiveness. This is one of a number of measures the Government are taking on to tackle this complex problem. Others included:Allocated a further £2 million to high-tech firms to promote the development of innovative and affordable solutions to tackle nuisance calls;We will be consulting on giving the Information Commissioner powers to impose Civil Monetary Penalties (CMP) of up to £500,000 to company directors for breaches of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, in relation to direct marketing.We are working with Treasury on their proposals to ban direct marketing calls in connection with pensions following consultation responses to a package of measures aimed at tackling pension scams.

Broadband

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2017 to Question 68607, if she will publish all evidence considered by her Department which indicates that superfast broadband in the UK is (a) on and (b) not on track to reach 95 per cent of UK premises by December 2017; and if she will make a statement.

Matt Hancock: The current contracted delivery from the projects within the Superfast Broadband Programme is available on the DCMS website at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hs00bNsyRV1WoOt-fow3rsNXzpcKg26AsOWvk1bvJRk/edit#gid=1411146266.Information from suppliers on their commercial plans has been provided to BDUK on an in-confidence basis.We are on track to meet the 95% target by December 2017. Recent Thinkbroadband figures shown 92.8% of premises already have access to superfast broadband.

Cybercrime: Hate Crime

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on what date in June the cross-government meeting on cyber hate will be held; and with whom her Department is consulting on that subject in advance of that meeting.

Matt Hancock: In the light of the 19 April motion in the House of Commons agreeing to a general election to be held on 8 June, any plans for a cross-government meeting on cyber hate will need to be revisited in due course.

Arts Council England: Public Appointments

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications the board of Arts Council England received during its last intake.

Matt Hancock: Arts Council England received 19 applications for the last role advertised, in April 2016. This was for the role of Chair of Arts Council England.

S4C: Reviews

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the independent review of S4C will be completed before 1 October 2017.

Matt Hancock: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 20 April 2017.The correct answer should have been:

Basic data about the number and locations of each public library in England as at 1 July 2016 was published on gov.uk on 30 March 2017.The Libraries Taskforce is currently conducting a survey until Friday 28 April seeking views from the sector on what a core dataset for public libraries in England should contain, such as information in relation to each library on the number of hours open and the number of staffed hours each week. After analysing responses to the survey, the Taskforce will set out what the sector should be gathering as part of a core dataset. Further consideration will then be given about how the libraries sector should collect and make available the core data. Details setting out the review of S4C will be announced in due course.

Mr Rob Wilson: Basic data about the number and locations of each public library in England as at 1 July 2016 was published on gov.uk on 30 March 2017.The Libraries Taskforce is currently conducting a survey until Friday 28 April seeking views from the sector on what a core dataset for public libraries in England should contain, such as information in relation to each library on the number of hours open and the number of staffed hours each week. After analysing responses to the survey, the Taskforce will set out what the sector should be gathering as part of a core dataset. Further consideration will then be given about how the libraries sector should collect and make available the core data. Details setting out the review of S4C will be announced in due course.

Museums and Galleries

Amanda Milling: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding the Arts Council has given to (a) independent museums and art galleries, (b) regimental museums, (c) local authority-run museums and (d) local authority-run art galleries in each year since 2010.

Matt Hancock: Neither DCMS nor Arts Council England hold this information. While Arts Council England fund these types of museum and galleries they do not break down their funding awards in these categories.

Museums and Galleries

Amanda Milling: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding the Arts Council has given to national museums and art galleries in each year since 2010.

Matt Hancock: The table below shows the amount Arts Council England have awarded to national museums and art galleries, as well as the DCMS-sponsored Horniman Museum and Geffrye Museum, each year, from 2010. YearAmount (£)2010/11£232,5002011/12£780,5312012/13£8,630,2032013/14£9,098,8552014/15£2,776,6482015/16£1,623,2602016/17£4,229,745

Arts Council England: Public Appointments

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the Arts Council England board are (a) women, (b) from black or minority ethnic backgrounds, (c) disabled or (d) from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Matt Hancock: Of those ACE board members who declared this information: WomenBAMEDeclared DisabilityLower socio-economic background4/11 (36.4%)2/11 (18.2%)2/11 (18.2%)Unknown

Arts Council England: Public Appointments

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who makes appointments to the Board of Arts Council England; which other organisations or individuals provide advice on those appointments; and at what stage of the process such advice is provided.

Matt Hancock: Appointments to the Board of Arts Council England are made by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, apart from the Chair of the London based Area Council who is appointed by the Mayor of London, subject to approval by the Secretary of State.

Public Libraries: Opening Hours

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the full data set collected by the Libraries Taskforce will include library opening and staffing hours.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish a launch date for the planned independent review of S4C.

Mr Rob Wilson: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 20 April 2017.The correct answer should have been:

Basic data about the number and locations of each public library in England as at 1 July 2016 was published on gov.uk on 30 March 2017.The Libraries Taskforce is currently conducting a survey until Friday 28 April seeking views from the sector on what a core dataset for public libraries in England should contain, such as information in relation to each library on the number of hours open and the number of staffed hours each week. After analysing responses to the survey, the Taskforce will set out what the sector should be gathering as part of a core dataset. Further consideration will then be given about how the libraries sector should collect and make available the core data. Details setting out the review of S4C will be announced in due course.

Mr Rob Wilson: Basic data about the number and locations of each public library in England as at 1 July 2016 was published on gov.uk on 30 March 2017.The Libraries Taskforce is currently conducting a survey until Friday 28 April seeking views from the sector on what a core dataset for public libraries in England should contain, such as information in relation to each library on the number of hours open and the number of staffed hours each week. After analysing responses to the survey, the Taskforce will set out what the sector should be gathering as part of a core dataset. Further consideration will then be given about how the libraries sector should collect and make available the core data. Details setting out the review of S4C will be announced in due course.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Air Pollution: Cars

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what powers local authorities have to tackle air pollution caused by idling cars near schools and other public areas.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (England) Regulations 2002 enable local authorities to issue £20 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) to drivers leaving engines running unnecessarily after being asked to turn off the engine. The decision to issue FPNs is at the discretion of local authorities, which may authorise any officer of the authority or any other person, to undertake this function. Local authorities also have a statutory duty to publish air quality plans to demonstrate their efforts towards reducing local air pollution, including that caused by unnecessary engine idling.

Environment Agency: Public Appointments

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the Environment Agency board are (a) women, (b) from black or minority ethnic backgrounds, (c) disabled or (d) from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: There are currently ten Environment Agency Board Members of whom: (a) six are women; (b) one is from a black or minority ethnic background; (c) none are disabled. We do not have data on their socio-economic backgrounds.

Ivory: Sales

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the consultation on the UK ivory market will look at plans to ban the trade in pre-1947 ivory.

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to fulfil the Government's commitment to closing the UK ivory market.

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish the consultation paper on the UK ivory market.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: In September, the Secretary of State for Environment announced a ban on trade in worked ivory from the last 70 years, making the UK rules on ivory amongst the toughest in the world. We will consult on these plans. As part of our consultation, we will also seek evidence on the benefits and impacts of taking further action, and we welcome evidence from all stakeholders in response to our consultation. I refer the Honorable Member to the debate on 6 February:https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2017-02-06/debates/04A0F6F6-C215-49E0-BF6B-87C55BE1AFE9/DomesticIvoryMarket

Environment Agency: Public Appointments

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications the board of the Environment Agency received during its last intake.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: During the last recruitment campaign for Environment Agency Board Members, the Department received 99 applications for three vacancies on the Board.

Fisheries: Monitoring

Melanie Onn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2016 to Question 48853, what proportion of the total fishing trips were accompanied by a fisheries observer in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.

George Eustice: The proportion of fishing trips by UK vessels that were accompanied by an observer in the period from 2013 to 2015 is provided in the table below:  201320142015Observed trips610755595Total trips228,359228,413222,015% observed trips0.3%0.3%0.3%

Agriculture: Subsidies

Matt Warman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farms in (a) Boston and Skegness constituency, (b) Lincolnshire and (c) England are in receipt of EU subsidies; and how much the total value of the subsidies was in (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16.

George Eustice: The number of eligible farm businesses in receipt of the Single Payment Scheme for 2014–2015 and the Basic Payment Scheme for 2015-16 and the total value of these in 2014-15 and 2016-16 are summarised in the table below:  2014-20152015-2016Boston and Skegness Constituency318307Lincolnshire2,8942,765England87,11483,751Total value£1,403,117,653£1,577,170,673

Sewers: Regulation

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to amend the private sewer transfer regulations to allow the transfer of private sewerage pumps to be regulated water companies by residents in a different curtilage.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to amend the private sewer transfer regulations to bring all remaining private sewerage systems under the ownership of regulated water companies.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to amend the private sewer transfer regulations to allow residents of small flat complexes to transfer ownership of their existing private sewerage systems to regulated water companies.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: There are no current plans to amend the Water Industry (Schemes for Adoption of Private Sewers) Regulations 2011, which provided for the transfer of eligible private sewers and lateral drains to water and sewerage companies on 1 October 2011 and the transfer of pumping stations on 1 October 2016. The last Government carried out an extensive review of private sewer ownership, including a full public consultation on the draft regulations. The issues raised during the consultation were considered in preparing the final regulations.

Animal Welfare: Sentencing

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to increase the maximum custodial sentence for the most serious acts of animal cruelty to five years imprisonment in England and Wales.

George Eustice: The maximum penalties for animal welfare offences are kept under review and Defra is in regular discussion with the Ministry of Justice on appropriate sentencing levels. The Sentencing Council recently published revised magistrates’ court sentencing guidelines with the aim of ensuring that the most serious cases of animal cruelty receive appropriately severe penalties within the available maximum penalty.

Environment Protection

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is her policy to (a) retain and (b) strengthen existing environmental standards regulations  after the UK has left the EU.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Great Repeal Bill will ensure that the whole body of existing EU environmental law continues to have effect in UK law. Over time, we have the opportunity to ensure our legislative framework is outcome driven and delivers on our overall commitment to improve the environment within a generation. Our manifesto commitment is to be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we found it.

Home Office

Weapons: Smuggling

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what preparations her Department is making for the coordination of efforts to tackle weapons trafficking with EU member states after the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Ben Wallace: The UK will in due course be leaving the EU but the importance of law enforcement co-operation with our EU and global allies has not changed. We are exploring options for cooperation arrangements once the UK has left the EU. We will do what is necessary to keep people safe, but it would be wrong to set out unilateral positions on specific measures in advance of negotiations The threat from firearms trafficking is transnational and requires a transnational response. The UK Government has been working with European partners to tackle the threat from illegally trafficked firearms and to share our expertise, and we will continue to do so.

Homicide: Females

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve police training on tackling femicide.

Brandon Lewis: The Government is committed to improving its understanding of domestic homicides in order to prevent these tragedies from happening in the first place. In April 2011, the Government placed Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) on a statutory basis to ensure local areas learn lessons from these tragic deaths. Last month the Government published the findings from a study of 40 DHRs, which identifies common themes and trends in domestic homicide and recommends how local areas can use this information to prevent domestic abuse. We have also updated the statutory guidance for the conduct of DHRs.The Government is working with police leaders to make tackling domestic abuse a priority. A new transformational training package, Domestic Abuse Matters, has been developed and piloted in partnership with voluntary sector partners. The training delivered to frontline responders is designed to drive cultural and attitudinal change. In addition, the College of Policing have been awarded £1.9 million to develop a comprehensive package of training for new leaders in vulnerability who will coach, brief and debrief frontline officers so they are better able to identify signs of vulnerability and support victims.

Immigration

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on the timing of the return of original documents to people applying for (a) citizenship, (b) further leave to remain and (c) indefinite leave to remain.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The majority of Citizenship applications are submitted through the Nationality Checking Service and original documents are returned to the customer immediately. For other applications where there is a requirement to submit an original document, documents are returned when the application is decided. Where a request for return of documents is received we aim to return them within 10 working days.On European applications for Permanent Residence, applicants can apply online and have their passport checked and returned immediately through participating local authorities.

Social Media

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is enrolled on any trusted flagger programmes with social media companies.

Mr Ben Wallace: This Government takes seriously the issue of online illegal content on social media platforms. Our Police Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) regularly refers online terrorist and extremist content that breaches social media companies terms and conditions for removal. So far they have secured the removal of over 250,000 pieces of terrorist content since February 2010. CTIRU have developed relationships with over 300 online platforms, and are a YouTube trusted flagger. The National Crime Agency Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP) also has Trusted Flagger status with YouTube, and has similar arrangements with a number of other social media providers.

Overseas Students: Visas

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the Government's policy will be after the UK has left the EU on universities losing their licence to recruit international students if more than 10 per cent of such students are refused visas.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We are working across Government to identify and develop options to shape our future immigration system.Parliament will have an important role to play in this and we will ensure businesses and communities have the opportunity to contribute their views.

Community Security Trust

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding for what period has been granted to the Community Security Trust to administer for the security of Jewish schools and other Jewish communal buildings.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Jewish Community Protective Security Grant makes funding available to all Jewish free, state and independent schools, colleges and nurseries to employ security guards during operating hours, and to improve security at many synagogues and other communal locations through the implementation of guarding and physical security measures. These funded security measures supplement existing site security arrangements and policing measures. The Home Office has provided grant funding for the security of the Jewish community since 2015-16, with the Community Security Trust as the Grant Recipient. A breakdown of funding by financial year is:2015-16 - £10.9m2016-17 - £13.4m. A further £13.4m has been allocated for this purpose for 2017-18.

Police Advisory Board

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales received during its last intake.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales are (a) women, (b) from black or minority ethnic backgrounds, (c) disabled or (d) from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who makes appointments to the Board of the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales; which other organisations or individuals provide advice on those appointments; and at what stage of the process such advice is provided.

Brandon Lewis: The Police Advisory Board for England and Wales (PABEW) is made up of one public appointment, the Chair, and nominated representatives from organisations across the policing landscape. Elizabeth France was appointed as Chair of the PABEW on 21 February 2014 and was reappointed in 2017. The Home Secretary is responsible for the appointment of the PABEW Chair. The Gov.uk website provides further information on the PABEW:www.gov.uk/government/organisations/police-advisory-board-for-england-and-wales/about/membership

Offences against Children

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many child sexual offences were reported to the police in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016 in each police force area in England and Wales.

Brandon Lewis: Data for these offences by police force area and by year are available in the police recorded crime and outcomes open data available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

Children: Abduction

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many child abduction warning notices were granted in each year since 2010.

Brandon Lewis: Child Abduction Warning Notices are currently used by the police as a deterrent against those thought to be grooming children, where the child is under the age of 16 if living at home, or under the age of 18 if living in the care of a local authority. The notices are a useful tool for the police and complement the powers to protect the vulnerable from sexual predators that we introduced in the Serious Crime Act 2015, for example Sexual Risk Orders. There is no statutory or other legislative provision dealing specifically with the issue of Child Abduction Warning Notices; the Notices are part of an administrative process. Breach of a Notice is not a criminal offence and as such the police do not regularly record the number of Child Abduction Warning Notices, therefore this information is not held centrally. Individual forces may though hold data on how many Abduction Notices have been issued in each year since 2010.

Fire Service College

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the UK National Resilience contract with the Fire Service College was terminated by her Department; what account was taken in that decision of the key objective of the Department for Communities and Local Government in selling that college to secure continuing access to National Resilience strategic assets; and if she will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The 2-year National Resilience training contract will end on 26 April 2017. As part of Goverment’s policy to devolve further responsibilities to the Fire sector, centralised training has now been passed to a lead authority, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority. This offers increased value for money and allows in-year savings made to be used for the benefit of the national resilience capabilities. National Resilience assets are largely owned by the Fire and Rescue Authorities, and suitable training grounds remain available.

Offences against Children

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of children aged 16 and 17 who have been victims of sexual abuse in each year since 2011.

Brandon Lewis: Data for these offences by police force area and by year are available in the police recorded crime and outcomes open data available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

Offences against Children

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of frontline police officers have received child sexual exploitation training in each police force area in England and Wales.

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of police community support officers have received child sexual exploitation training in each police force area in England and Wales.

Brandon Lewis: All new officers and new detectives receive public protection training which includes training on child sexual exploitation. The child sexual exploitation element of this training has been made available as an e-learning course for all existing staff and officers. As police training is delivered locally we do not hold data centrally on the proportion of frontline officers or Police Community Support Officers in each police force area that have received training on child sexual exploitation. Local police forces may hold this data. The Home Office is strengthening the law enforcement response to crimes against vulnerable people through around £8m investment from the Police Transformation Fund. This includes £1.9million to the College of Policing to develop a comprehensive package of training for new police leaders in vulnerability. These officers will coach, brief and debrief frontline officers so they are better able to identify signs of vulnerability, including child sexual exploitation, and provide support to victims.

Offences against Children

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many sexual offences were committed against children in (a) the UK, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Wigan in 2016.

Brandon Lewis: Data for these offences by year and by police force area/community safety partnership (Greater Manchester is a police force area, Wigan is a community safety partnership area) are available in the police recorded crime and outcomes open data available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

Police: Finance

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the 2017-18 police budget in England and Wales has been reduced in real terms.

Brandon Lewis: The 2017/18 police funding settlement fulfils the Government’s Spending Review 2015 commitment to protect overall police spending in real terms compared to 2015/16. Overall police spending includes direct funding to PCCs, council tax precept and reallocations such as the police transformation fund.

Police: Standards

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the leading indicators used to assess detriment in police service performance are.

Brandon Lewis: Under section 54 of the Police Act 1996, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has a statutory responsibility to inspect the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces in England and Wales. The inspectorate discharges this duty through annual all force inspections, which focus on: police efficiency (how well forces provide value for money); effectiveness (how well they cut crime); and legitimacy (how well they provide a service that is fair). This is known as the PEEL inspection programme. The inspectorate also conducts rolling inspection programmes (e.g. on crime data integrity and on child protection), thematic inspections (e.g. on counter-terrorism and on modern slavery), and engages in Joint Inspection (working with other inspectorates). HMIC’s annual inspection programme is agreed by the Home Secretary before it is laid before Parliament. Further details of inspection methodology and findings are publically available on HMIC’s website: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/

Deportation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) men and (b) women have been deported from the UK in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The number of enforced returns by gender is published in table rt_03 (returns data tables) in ‘Immigration Statistics, October - December 2016’, available from the Home Office website at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/593032/returns2-q4-2016-tables.ods. The term 'deportations' refers to a legal definition of a specific set of returns. Deportations are a specific subset of returns which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. The deportation order prohibits the person returning to the UK until such time as it may be revoked. Published information on those deported is not separately available. As such, the question has been interpreted as referring to enforced returns. In an enforced return, it has been established that a person has breached UK immigration laws and / or has no valid leave to remain in the UK. They have declined to leave voluntarily and the Home Office enforces their departure from the UK.

Road Traffic Offences: Speed Limits

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much police authorities spent on the provision of diversionary courses for speed awareness in each of the last five years.

Brandon Lewis: This information is not collected centrally. It is a matter for Chief Constables, working with their Police and Crime Commissioners, to determine how to use available resources according to local priorities.

Bashar al-Assad

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether international arrest warrants exist for the former Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad and members of his family for (a) war crimes, (b) crimes against humanity and (c) other related offences.

Mr Ben Wallace: As a matter of long standing policy and practice, the UK will neither confirm nor deny that an extradition request has been received until the person concerned is arrested in relation to the request. Further, the UK will neither confirm nor deny whether any requests have made been via Interpol for the arrest of an individual.

Department for Exiting the European Union

EU Institutions

Christian Matheson: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, which EU executive and regulatory agencies the Government plans to replicate in the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Robin Walker: We are doing all necessary preparatory work to make sure that we get the best deal for the UK. The UK's formal and informal relationship with the EU's decentralised bodies will depend on the negotiations in each area. Any analysis of the UK's intended relationship with these bodies would presuppose the UK's preferred outcome and red lines in the negotiation, and Parliament has voted repeatedly not to disclose material that could damage the United Kingdom’s position in its negotiations with the European Union.

Department for International Trade

Renewable Energy: Exports

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps his Department is taking to increase (a) renewable energy and (b) low carbon technology exports.

Greg Hands: The Department for International Trade works with key UK suppliers, foreign Governments, sector focussed trade associations and procuring authorities to increase exports in the renewable energy and low carbon technology sectors.Understanding the UK’s capability and matching it with relevant high value export opportunities overseas forms part of the work of our renewable energy sector team. Alongside this the Department for International Trade undertakes a range of promotion activities to support the export of renewable energy and low carbon technologies. In support of this UK Export Finance, the UK’s export credit agency, offers finance and insurance to help UK-based companies of all sizes and across all sectors (including the renewable energy and low carbon technology sectors) win, fulfil and get paid for overseas sales, ensuring that no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance.UKEF recently provided support to BurntIsland Fabrications Ltd (BiFab) for a contract worth in excess of £100 million, helping secure jobs at BiFab’s three UK manufacturing sites. BiFab makes high-quality steel fabrications for the offshore renewables sector.

Trade Agreements: Conditions of Employment

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many reports he has commissioned to seek advice on free trade agreement provisions and workers' rights.

Greg Hands: The UK has a strong history of protecting workers’ rights. We are working with departments across Whitehall to determine our approach to future trade agreements, including with respect to workers’ rights.

Trade Agreements: Environment Protection

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many reports he has commissioned to seek advice on free trade agreement provisions and environmental protection.

Greg Hands: We are working closely with departments across Whitehall to determine our approach to future trade agreements, including with respect to environmental protection, informed by relevant evidence and advice.

House of Commons Commission

House of Commons: Waste

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what the total amount of waste generated across the Parliamentary estate was in each of the last five years; and how much of that waste was recycled as (a) paper and cardboard, (b) glass, (c) plastic bottles, (d) cans, (e) batteries and (f) food waste in each such year.

Tom Brake: Holding answer received on 20 April 2017



Figures are shown below:  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016 Total waste each year (by weight kgs)1,527,6491,540,8491,847,8831,622,2401,595,716Waste recycled each year by weight in kgs868,689928,1351,142,1131,010,8751,017,615Food waste (kgs) *Figure for 2012 is from April which is when the House started diverting food waste fromthe general waste stream67,230*160,973194,474136,285195,082Mixed Recycling (kgs)507,806382,514407,977371,572382,439Glass (kgs)171,255234,620361,311192,681249,855Confidential waste and bulk collections ofVote Office paper (kgs)65,22083,07591,290139,39081,241In January 2012, our waste contractor introduced a mixed waste recycling scheme; hence the statistics for individual recyclables were aggregated into a single waste stream. In addition to the waste streams detailed above Parliament also recycles its WEEE waste including consumables, metal, cooking oil, lamps and fittings.Whereas the previous system of disposal meant such wastes were segregated on-site where feasible, the new scheme involves segregation at the end of the process at a local Materials Recovery Facility.This mixed recycling process achieves better recycling results than local segregation due to the efficiency of the separation process at the Materials Recovery Facility.We do not receive separate figures for batteries.Parliament continues to explore new opportunities to recycle and recover waste in collaboration with its waste service providers. Parliament commenced a new waste contract in November 2016 and the specification for the services included a written requirement for a continual improvement approach to collaborative waste recycling improvement. It is the contractual duty of the waste service provider to give advance notice of changes in best practice and waste recycling technology and to incorporate these into their service provision in the most expedient and effective way possible.

Department of Health

Mental Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients (a) psychological wellbeing practitioners, (b) cognitive behavioural therapists, (c) counsellors, (d) psychotherapists and (e) psychologists are each expected to see per week.

Nicola Blackwood: NHS England has informed us that there are no national quotas set for the number of patients mental health therapists are expected to see each week. Workload will depend on a number of factors, including how long clinical contacts last, travel requirements, therapists’ other responsibilities and their training and supervision requirements.

Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average length of waiting time for patients to see (a) psychological wellbeing practitioners, (b) cognitive behavioural therapists, (c) councillors, (d) psychotherapists and (e) psychologists has been in each year since 2010.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people are on a waiting list to receive individual, one to one, psychotherapy treatment.

Nicola Blackwood: Data is not available for waiting times by type of healthcare professional.The dataset supporting the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme does not report on the numbers of referrals still waiting to enter treatment, however it does provide the number of referrals waiting to enter treatment by waiting times breakdowns as follows: 28 days or less, between 29 and 56 days, between 57 and 90 days, more than 90 days, less than six weeks, and less than 18 weeks (i.e. the number of referrals waiting these periods for treatment).

Social Services: South Tyneside

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 5.5 of the Spring Budget 2017, how much of the £2 billion fund for councils in England to spend on adult social care services will be allocated to South Tyneside local authority.

David Mowat: Following the Budget announcements, local authorities in England will receive an additional £2 billion for social care over the next three years. £1 billion of this will be provided in 2017-18, ensuring that councils can start to fund more care packages immediately. In particular, South Tyneside local authority will receive £8.2 million additional funding for adult social care over three years. Council-by-council allocations of the additional funding have been published by the Department for Communities and Local Government at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-allocations-of-the-additional-funding-for-adult-social-care The additional money will be provided as a grant to each council in England and there are conditions which ensure that it is all spent on adult social care.

Care Homes

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 4 April 2017 to Question 69386, on care homes, how many (a) registered care home and (b) nursing home places there were in each clinical commissioning group area in (i) 2017, (ii) 2016 and (iii) 2015.

David Mowat: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC has provided the following information in the attached table showing number of active care homes and number of care home beds for each clinical commissioning group area in 2017, 2016 and 2015.  Notes:- A care home with both service types of ‘care home with nursing’ and ‘care home without nursing’ is classified as a nursing home. A residential home is a ‘care home service without nursing’.- Care home bed numbers can change over time. The data supplied is based on the number of beds at date of data extraction, or date of the location's de-activation if it is no longer active.



PQ70436 attached document
(Excel SpreadSheet, 104.71 KB)

Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group: Hospital Beds

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time is for Wakefield Clinical Commissioning group to complete funding assessments for patients awaiting transferral from hospital to an appropriate care environment.

David Mowat: This information is not held centrally.

Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group: Hospital Beds

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of patients in Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group who are currently waiting to be discharged from hospital to elsewhere in the social care system .

David Mowat: NHS England publishes monthly data on the number of patients (aged over 18 years) delayed at midnight on the last Thursday of each month. The data are published at National Health Service trust and local authority level and provide information on the reason for delay. The latest data is for February 2017 and is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/delayed-transfers-of-care/

Tobacco: Packaging

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to introduce maximum pack size legislation for the sale of tobacco products.

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect of introducing maximum pack size legislation on the bulk-buying of cigarettes.

Nicola Blackwood: The Government has no current plans to introduce maximum pack sizes for tobacco products. We remain committed to completing a review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 by 2020, as required by those regulations.

Health Services: Private Sector

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on private sector companies acting as the delivery organisation in Accountable Care Systems and Accountable Care Organisations.

David Mowat: The Government’s policy is that patients should receive healthcare services that provide the best care for patients, regardless of their ownership. This principle is reflected in legislation passed under successive Governments.

Women and Equalities

Civil Partnerships

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2017 to Question 69447, on civil partnerships, whether she plans for an assessment of the effect of the equalisation of civil partnerships between same sex and different sex couples to take place before the Supreme Court has heard and given judgement in the appeal by Steinfeld and Another in their case against the Department for Education.

Caroline Dinenage: We understand that the claimants in this case have sought permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. We are currently awaiting the Court’s decision on whether to allow the appeal so we are unable to comment further on the case.As you know, a General Election has been called. This means that a decision on this policy area will be for the next Government.As we set out previously, the Government carried out a consultation on the future of civil partnerships in 2014. The review found that there was no clear consensus on the future of civil partnerships. Given the lack of any consensus, the Government did not change the Civil Partnership Act 2004.

Directors: Equality

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that diversity on boards is being promoted in (a) private companies, (b) the public sector and (c) the third sector.

Caroline Dinenage: We have more women on boards than ever before and are down to fewer than 10 all male boards in the FTSE 350. We are going further and are supporting the work of the Hampton-Alexander Review and its business-led target of 33% women on FTSE 350 boards by 2020. We want to extend that progress to ethnic as well as gender diversity, and will consider whether and how to take action once Sir John Parker finalises his recommendations on increasing ethnic diversity in FTSE 100 companies before the end of this year. We also want to see greater diversity on boards across all sectors including the public and third sectors. The Government is committed to increasing the diversity of public appointments and ​has an​ aspiration that 50% of new public appointees should be women.